


Wonderful World

by Tallulah_Rasa



Series: Thick as Thieves [1]
Category: Highlander: The Series, Leverage, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Crossover, Fluff, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 17:55:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1908336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallulah_Rasa/pseuds/Tallulah_Rasa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three thieves walk into a bar...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wonderful World

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2009, because how could Parker, Vala, and Amanda _not ___know each other?  
>  If you're not familiar with all the fandoms: Parker is the master thief of the steal-from-the-rich-on-behalf-of the-poor Leverage crew: strategist Nate, grifter Sophie, hitter Eliot, and computer genius Hardison. Vala is the beautiful resident con artist and thief of the latter season SG-1. (She's also from another planet, and has -- like pretty much all aliens on the show -- a special interest in Daniel Jackson.) Amanda, an Immortal friend of the Highlander, Duncan MacLeod, is also a beautiful master thief, with over 1,000 years of experience.  
> This is the first of a series, of sorts. The second part involves Parker dragging Eliot to meet Amanda.

It was the bar at the Ritz this time, all dark wood and plush upholstery. They weren't picky about where they met -- being in the same city at the same time was too much of a rarity for that -- but none of them would turn down luxury, especially on someone else's dime.

Thy settled around a table, ordering from the obviously thunderstruck waiter while complimenting each other's hair, outfit, jewelry, or, in Parker's case, latest heist.

"I can't stay long," Vala said after the waiter had deposited a chilled bottle of champagne and a number of plates at the table. "I'm not supposed to be..." She trailed off and smiled conspiratorially. "...out on my own," she finished, and they all nodded.

"How'd you get out this time?" Amanda asked, dipping a spoon directly into the caviar.

"I said I wanted to go shoe shopping," Vala said. "I find that's very effective. They all pretty much run in the opposite direction."

"I told Nate I had to get cat food," Parker volunteered. She sniffed at the caviar, made a face, and speared a shrimp.

"Who's Nate?"

Parker frowned. "My boss, sort of. Well, it's more like...he's kind of a..." She stopped and started again. "It's hard to explain."

"I understand," Vala said, nodding her head while deftly outmaneuvering Amanda for the last of the caviar.

"Tell me about it," Amanda added.

"He used to be an insurance investigator," Parker said promptly. "But then his son--"

"Rhetorical, Parker," Amanda said gently.

"Oh," Parker said. "Good. I'd rather eat than explain, anyway." She grabbed a cracker and attacked the foie gras with gusto.

"What about you?" Vala asked Amanda.

Amanda leaned forward as though sharing the combination to a particularly tricky vault. "Duncan thinks this was his idea," she said. "He says it's good for me to get together with girlfriends."

Vala grinned. "Is Duncan the one who...?" She raised her eyebrows and sketched a complicated set of gestures indicating, "this tall and _this_ broad, with a hell of a butt?"

"That's him," Amanda agreed, spearing a chunk of lobster.

"I'll have to try that on Daniel next time," Vala said, dipping a cracker into the foie gras. "I bet he'd buy that." She looked up. "Not that he isn't smart. He knows 26 languages."

"How many can you con him in?" Parker asked.

"Let's just say I speak seven," Vala said with a smile.

"Is Daniel the one who..." Amanda asked, sketching her own set of gestures -- this, and that, and _that_ \-- while Parker looked on, a butter-drenched chunk of lobster dripping in one hand and a befuddled look on her face.

"More like this," Vala said, indicating more breadth and height and, somehow, the exact curve of Daniel's rear. "But you have the idea."

"I'd like to meet Daniel," Amanda purred.

"And I'd like to meet Duncan," Vala said.

The two women eyed each other for a moment, and then, in unison, shrugged and shook their heads.

"Guys?" Parker pouted, "I don't speak sign language. Talk with words. About _stealing_."

"You don't want to talk about men?" Vala asked, her question somewhat muffled by a mouthful of lobster.

"Money's better," Parker said.

"Money's good," Amanda agreed. "Diamonds are better. But some men..."

She and Vala exchanged a smile.

"I stole a naked man," Parker said thoughtfully, dipping a finger into a dish of melted butter.

"I could think of other things to do with a naked man," Vala said.

"Yes, but this one was worth a lot of money," Parker said. "And I did it with a...a friend. To help another friend. And it was..."

"Ah. Well," Amanda said.

"Still," Vala said after they'd poured another round of champagne, "sometimes I think there are some...people...worth more than a score."

"Funny," Amanda said with a theatrical sigh, "how those same people are usually the ones who think stealing is wrong. Like -- like it's a crime, or something!"

Vala nodded, but Parker frowned again. "It's not a crime?"

"Depends on what you're stealing," Amanda said. "And..."

"And from whom," Vala finished.

"Like...when you steal from a good person it's bad, but when you steal from a bad person it's good?" Parker asked.

"Exactly," Vala said.

"I understand that!" Parker exulted, flinging a shrimp across the table in her enthusiasm. "Nate thinks like that. And Eliot. I think Eliot thinks like that, too."

"Eliot?" Amanda asked. "You haven't mentioned him before."

"I work with him," Parker said. "I work with a team, now. Eliot is very...solid. Like a wall. But that's not all he is. He hurts people, but only if they deserve it, and the rest of the time, he cooks. With knives. Very sharp knives. He likes to pretend it's because he likes to cut and stab, but I think it's really because he wants to take care of people, but he doesn't want to _know_ that's what he wants. You know?"

"I do," Vala said quietly.

"Also," Parker said with a giggle, "he's like this..." and she made several quick but definite hand motions.

"Oh, my," Amanda said. "I'd like to meet _him_."

"And there's Hardison...Hardison is like that about stealing, too," Parker said suddenly. "And he talks to me. To really me, not who he thinks I am. And it makes me feel...funny."

"Funny can be good," Amanda said.

"And scary," Vala added. "But that can also be good."

"He gave me a plant. In a pot," Parker confided.

"That's sweet," Amanda said.

"I like money," Parker said. "But I like the plant, too. Which is funny, because it's not really worth anything. Except...it is. And I take care of it. I water it, and--" Her eyes widened. "I forgot to water it! I didn't water my plant today! I have to go home!"

Amanda laid a consoling hand on her arm. "Plants are very forgiving, Parker. It'll be okay. But give us a minute, and we'll walk you out."

"Are you sure?" Parker fretted.

"You can trust Amanda," Vala said. "She gives good advice."

Parker brightened. "Well, she _was_ right about the tin foil."

"Tin foil? No, never mind," Vala said. "I don't want to know. New greenery, and all that."

"New leaf," Amanda said absently, rooting through her wallet. "And that's a pity."

"I believe the compensations will be worth it," Vala said with a brilliant smile. "Though I've also invested in a new pair of leather pants."

"Did he give you a plant?" Parker asked.

"I'm working on it," Vala said. "Now, who's paying for this lovely meal?"

Amanda flipped through a stack of credit cards. "Um...Stanley Walker? No. Adam Pierson? Definitely no. Timothy McGee...?"

Parker leaned over. "Ooh. American Express Platinum!"

"I tell you what; let _me_ pick up the tab," Vala said, holding out a credit card.

Amanda examined it. "Cameron Mitchell?"

"He's sort of my boss," Vala said. "Well, not really. It's complicated."

"It always is," Amanda said.

"Your maybe-plant guy won't mind?" Parker asked.

"I think not," Vala said. "I rather think he'll laugh."

"That's confusing," Parker said, crumpling her napkin. "I understand money. I don't understand people. Especially men-people."

"Kind of wonderful, isn't it?" Amanda said dreamily.

"Absolutely," Vala said.

"Well, I...huh," Parker said, and then she almost smiled. "I think you...you might be right."

"I'll drink to that," Amanda said.

And they did.

END

**Author's Note:**

> In case you were wondering: Parker stole a statue of a naked man, not an actual...well, you know. Amanda's (stolen) credit cards belong to the never-seen rich husband of Karen Walker in "Will and Grace," an alias used by the oldest living Immortal in "Highlander:TS", and one of the agents from "NCIS." The tin foil (aka aluminum foil) and the agent are both referenced in another story, Sure Bet.


End file.
